“One Microsoft” reorg aims to break down silos. Good luck with that

The long rumored Microsoft restructuring is here and, frankly, it’s both bigger and less flashy than I expected, because most of this stuff has leaked already (thanks, AllThingsD). The goal is to get Microsoft thinking and acting like a single company — a mighty tall order for an organization famous for infighting.

Julie Larson-Green, former VP of Windows, will head up hardware development and supply chain and Microsoft Studio aka Xbox — all the entertainment services.

Eric Rudder, who was CTO, has advanced strategy and research, trustworthy computing and Microsoft Research. Rick Rashid who ran MSR for CTO Craig Mundie (who is retiring), is now in Myerson’s OS group.

Qi Lu, who ran search, now is Mr. Office, heading up applications and services engineering. That’s a bit of a shocker. Former Office head Kurt Delbene has retired.

Tony Bates, who ran Skype, now has business development and evangelism, and could be viewed as Ballmer’s new right-hand guy, according to one Microsoft insider.

Amy Hood, who was just named CFO, stays in place but now runs a centralized finance organization. Before this, each of the business units had their own financial structures.

Many roles, despite all the hoopla, seem largely unchanged to me, but correct me if I’m wrong.

But it is crucial that the changes take direct aim at a long-running Microsoft problem: Fierce political infighting (see org chart diagram below.) When I covered the company day to day, the best way to get dirt on Office was to ask the Windows guys and vice versa. Clearly, after decades of that, and faced with huge and capable (and well funded) competition — Google, Apple, Amazon et al., Microsoft can’t afford to let that behavior stand.